Forbes Update: Our New Article Page for the Era of Social Media Is Now Live

Lewis DVorkin
,
Forbes Staff
I fixate on the intersection of digital journalism and social media.

There's been a lot of teeth gnashing lately about the future of the article page on the Web. Some believe it too closely mimics newspaper and magazine formats. Others argue it's less relevant as news and information is increasingly reported via tweets and texts rather than traditional narrative stories. Proponents believe it still has a place, but that context and analysis need to replace regurgitation of what's already been widely disseminated through the tools of social media. In the back and forth, what's rarely, if ever, discussed is the article page's preeminent role in the monetization of any news site.

Today, FORBES launched Phase 1 of an exciting new article page for the era of social media, the next step in the iterative rebuild of Forbes.com. It's a key component of our unfolding strategy to put our authoritative journalism at the center of a social experience by providing reporters and writers with the publishing tools and audience data they need to connect with consumers. If you total up our FORBES staffers and contributors, we have 850 topic-specific experts using our platform to do just that.

This new page has a history that reflects the dramatic changes in news consumption. A digital media colleague of mine, Jim Brady, saw early-stage concepts before its initial launch a few years ago. His reaction was immediate: "What you're doing is turning Facebook inside out." Jim's description has always worked for me. If the core of Facebook is self-published community content and the sharing of links the community finds valuable, the core of FORBES is that valuable information with the community gathering around the expert who published it. Today's article page release tightens the author-audience relationship and furthers our effort to build a scalable content-creation engine of individually branded journalists, authors, academics and other qualified contributors.

Here are the nine key elements of our updated article page:

1) Stronger branding features for reporters and writers, including an updated bio box and opportunities to promote personal Twitter and Facebook feeds, recommended reading or a personal Web site.

2) A "Comment Strip" that both elevates and more deeply integrates the content creator's community on the page.

3) The "Vest Pocket," a related links box that is specific to each post and controlled, or curated, by the content creator or our New Newsroom.

4) A new In-Stream advertising unit beneath the post, a very desirable spot for marketers.

5) A highly visual promotional area pointing consumers to the most recent posts and featured content or contributors across our site.

6) Enhanced navigation of our unique comment system, which is moderated by staffers, contributors and our New Newsroom.

7. A more feature rich News Stream for staffers, contributors and their communities that includes author posts, photo galleries, headline "grabs" from around the Web and comments. Additional content types will be added in upcoming releases.

8. The "Sticky" or "Conversation" ad, a unit that glides down the page as the user scrolls, finally locking in place adjacent to the comments field.